To: MikeM54321 who wrote (7205 ) 6/12/2000 4:43:00 PM From: MikeM54321 Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 12823
Re: Update on AT&T Stats- HFC and Cable Telephony Thread- Just a few comments clipped from an article. I don't know how accurate they are. I'm hoping to be able to cross-check with other sources. The 75% upgrade to HFC by year end seems optimistic. And I can't recall if the cable telephony figures are accurate...but I think they are from what I recall, Tellabs and Antec have said. The 30% sign-up rate is phenomenal if accurate. I don't believe T expected anything near this on average. -MikeM(From Florida) ****************************** One bright spot in AT&T's current consumer product mix is its broadband services, Grubman wrote. The company said it expects to post 12% to 14% growth in the cable business this year . With 400,000 cable telephony subscribers , the company has been ramping this business ahead of plan. April installation rates were 13 times the December number. In some markets, the company is signing up 30% of the homes passed by the service, with less than 1% attrition . Capital costs are dropping more than expected too, with an end to the largest expenditures in sight; 62% of AT&T's plant is upgraded for cable-telephony service, with 75% expected to be complete by the end of 2000 . What's more, the company is installing 50% more cable modems than in the fourth quarter, having added 91,000 customers in the first quarter, compared to 78,000 in the fourth quarter of 1999 . In the meantime, the company has strengthened its ties to Excite@Home, and is working to put in place a broadband deal with Time Warner, which is the largest shareholder of the Road Runner broadband service. Media One, the cable company that AT&T is acquiring, is another large shareholder of Road Runner. The FCC has approved the acquisition, and while the final terms of the deal haven't been determined, it's possible that AT&T won't have to sell Media One's Road Runner stake to satisfy antitrust regulators . ....Don't expect AT&T's massive transformation to happen overnight. The company currently pays about $2 billion a quarter in interest expense stemming from the cost of acquiring its enormous cable plant . But with CEO Michael Armstrong at the helm, the S.S. Mr. T is slowly, but surely changing course, and analysts believe that for long-term investors, the ship will surely come in.